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In the Gardens of Norman Palermo, Sicily (Twelfth Century A.D.)

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In the Gardens of Norman Palermo, Sicily (Twelfth Century A.D.) In the gardens of Norman Palermo, Sicily (twelfth century A.D.) MarcoMASSETI Laboratori di Antropologia eEtnologia Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica “Leo Pardi” dell’Università di Firenze via del Proconsolo, 12 –I-50122 Firenze (Italia) [email protected] Masseti M. 2009. —Inthe gardens of Norman Palermo, Sicily (twelfth century A.D.). Anthropozoologica 44(2): 7-34. ABSTRACT Thispaperisaimed atverifyingthesignificanceofthezoomorphicimages represented in the 12 th century picture of the Genoard , the “earthly paradise”, ofPalermo (Sicily)contained in anillumination in the Liberad honorem Augusti byPietrodaEboli,12 th centuryA.D.(Berne, Burgerbibliothek, Codex120). Based on analysesoftheliteraryandiconographicdocuments andoftheavailableosteologicalevidence, atentativeidentification ofthe zoologicalspeciesrepresented ismade, in relation totheNormancultural ambitandwhatcanbeassumed abouttheiroccurrencein mediaevalSicily. Thestudyoftheanimalsdepicted couldenhanceourunderstandingofthe specialised —butstill debated —useofthe Genoard ,whilealsoyielding different readings from those traditionally offered by literary and architectural KEYWORDS criticism and/or historical and artistic texts. Hence, it offers an opportunity to Medieval Sicily, Norman Palermo, reviewtheosteologicalmaterialyielded bymodernarchaeologicalresearch Islamic culture, conducted in Sicily,underscoringwhatcouldbeconsidered thefirst appearanceof exotic mammals, certain exoticspecies.Italsoprovidesacueforreflection on thefaunistic birds and reptiles, Islamic Spain and Portugal, rebalancingwhichwasimplemented alsoinothercontinentalandinsularareasof Crete, thenorthernMediterraneanintheperiodofArab influenceand/orthose Norman England, earthly paradise, immediatelyfollowing.Perhaps,withcertain consequencesthatcouldapparently viridarium . alsohaveinvolved thecontemporaryNormanculturalworldofGreatBritain. RÉSUMÉ Dans les jardins de la Palerme normande, Sicile (XIIe siècle, apr. J.-C.) Le but de cet article est de montrer l’importance des figures zoomorphiques représentéesdansl’imagedu Genoard ,le«Paradisterrestre»,àPalerme (Sicile), une enluminure contenue dans le Liber ad honorem Augusti de Pietro da Eboli, XIIe siècle, apr. J.-C. (Berne, Burgerbibliothek, Codex 120). Basée surlesanalysesdesdocuments iconographiquesetlittérairesetsurles ANTHROPOZOOLOGICA • 2009 • 44 (2) © Publications Scientifiques du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. 7 Masseti M. déterminationsostéologiquesdisponibles,unetentatived’identification des espèceszoologiquesreprésentéesest réalisée, enrelation avecl’apport cultureldes NormandsetcequipeutêtreconsidérécommedeleurfaitenSicilemédiévale. L’étude desanimaux dépeints pourraitaméliorernotrecompréhension de la MOTS CLÉS singulière—maistoujours débattues—fonction du Genoard ,enproposantune Sicile médiévale, Palerme normande, lecturedifférentedecellestraditionnellementoffertesparl’analyselittéraireet culture islamique, architecturaleet/ouparlestextesàportée historiqueetartistique.Parailleurs,cet mammifères exotiques, oiseaux et reptiles, articleproposeuneréflexion surlerééquilibragedelafaunequiaétéaccompli Espagne et Portugal islamique, égalementdansd’autresrégionscontinentalesetinsulairesdunorddela Crète, Méditerranée durantlapériode d’influencearabeet/oucellequiasuivi Angleterre normande, paradis terrestre, immédiatement.Peut-être, dansunecertainemesure, cetapport pourraitaussi viridarium . avoirinfluencélemonde culturelnormandcontemporain de laGrande-Bretagne. INTRODUCTION theArab word riyàd isused torefertoagreen, private space that evokes the image of the Roman In the second half of the 12 th century, a park for peristyle . It was an uncovered area, almost always hunting and other courtly delights was created for surrounded byporticoes,andfeatured paved paths WilliamII,just behindtheroyalpalaceofPalermo, andasystemofirrigation based on basinsand in thesouthernpart ofthecityin frontofwhat conduits.Inviewofits particularposition,the was later called the “Conca d’Oro”. This park was Genoard must hencehaveappeared aspacethat called the Genoard , or Gennoardo , a name deriving embodied a specialised concept of the urban park. from the Arabic gennat al-ard , signifying “earthly Insuchparkstherarest plants originatingfrom the paradise”.Thiswasnotaspecificname, butwas East were cultivated, in line with a tradition bor- shared byall theMuslim gardensofdelights,which rowed directlyfrom theArab world( cf. Lupo1990). weredesigned toresembletheparadiseoftheKoran. Variouspreciousandexoticplants areillustrated Animageoftheappearanceofthe Genoard has in the miniature, among which we can recognise a survived in a 12 th century illumination illustrating vine, otherfruittreesandseveralpalms.Butthe ThecityofPalermo in mourningforthedeathof “earthly paradise” was also home to a special fauna WilliamII,contained in the Liberad honorem whichincluded ornithologicalandmammalian Augusti byPietrodaEboli (Berne, Burgerbibliothek, species, the presence of which within the park was Codex120II,98 recto )(Kölzer&Stähl1994) motivated notonlybyaestheticreasonsbutalso (Fig. 1). This manuscript was written and illumi- practical ends connected with hunting. nated in Palermo between 1195 and 1197 ( cf. Sir- Based on analyses of the literary and iconographic agusa1904;Cuomo 2001),afterthedeathof documents andoftheavailableosteologicalevi- William II in 1189. It consists of an illuminated dence, a tentative identification of the zoological chronicleoftheevents thattook placein thedecade species represented in Pietro da Eboli’s miniature between 1189-1197 (Kölzer & Stähl 1994). In the is made, in relation to the Norman cultural ambit miniaturein whichthe Genoard appears itisset and what can be assumed about their occurrence within thecontextofPalermo andispart ofthe in mediaevalSicily.Ambiguoushistoricalevidence same, entirelyoccupyingoneofthesectors into compounded bymisidentificationsandcontextual whichthecitywasdivided, correspondingapprox- disturbance, as well as the traditional trade in skel- imatelytotheindividualquarters.The Genoard etalanddentalelements togetherwithpartsof consisted ofagreenarea,enclosed andirrigated, hides, have all contributed to confuse our under- considered practicallya riyàd belongingtothe standing of the mediaeval distribution and spread royalpalace( cf. Amari1939;Bellafiore1996; — natural and/or artificial — of native and exotic Masseti 2006). As Zangheri (2006) also explains, animalsalongtheMediterraneanshores.Thestudy 8 ANTHROPOZOOLOGICA • 2009 • 44 (2) In the gardens of Norman Palermo, Sicily (twelfth century A.D.) of the miniature, therefore, offers an opportunity for meditation on the faunistic rebalancing which wasimplemented alsoinothercontinentaland insular areas of the northern Mediterranean in the periodofArab influenceand/orthoseimmediately following.Perhaps,withcertain consequencesthat couldapparentlyalso haveinvolved the contem- poraryNormanculturalworldofGreatBritain. Furthermore, thestudyofthezoologicalspecies depicted could enhance our understanding of the specialised —butstill debated —useofthe Genoard , whilealsoyieldingdifferentreadingsfrom those traditionallyofferedbyliteraryandarchitectural criticismand/orhistoricalandartistictexts.Infact, the analysis of the iconographic elements can pro- vide validcomplementaryinformation forthestudy of ancient environmental features, and enables the unequivocalrecognition ofthespeciesportrayed ( cf. Masseti 2001). Arecapitulation oftheexistingbibliographyon the archaeozoologyofmediaevalSicilyisanadditional aim of this study. FAUNAOFTHE “EARTHLYPARADISE”. THERINGED-NECKED PARAKEET F ig.1.—The twelfth-century illumination of the Genoard ,the “earthly paradise”, from the Liber ad honorem Augusti by Pietro Intheillumination from the Liberad honorem da Eboli (Berne, Burgerbibliothek, Codex 120). Augusti , an exotic green bird is portrayed perching on the trunk of a palm tree. This can tentatively beidentified asaring-necked parakeetorrose- Greece,Turkey(Long1981;Goodman1982; Kinzel- ringed parakeet, Psittacula krameri Scopoli, 1769, bach1986; Paz1987; Hollom etal .1988; native of most of the Ethiopic and Oriental zoo- Wittenberg 1988; Goodman & Meininger 1989; geographicalregions(Kinzelbach1986; Howard Bakig&Khiyami Amihorani 1992; Kasparek1992; & Moore 1991). The species is well established in Evans&DouweDijkstra1993; Boyla etal .,1998 ) , severallocalitiesoftheWesternPalaearctic,beyond and several Aegean islands (Masseti 2002a). its natural distribution. It has been introduced by Thering-necked parakeetisaspecieswhichhas maninmanyareasofEurope, NorthAfrica and been regularly exported as a cage bird since antiq- theNearEast (Aschenborn1990;Perrins1990; uity (Spanò & Truffi 1986), and it is possible that Hays1995;Hagemeijer&Blair1997). Inthe even in Hellenistic times birds escaping from cap- WesternMediterraneanbasin,ring-necked parakeet tivity became feral in the region of the Nile delta coloniesaretodayrecorded from Spain andthe (Paz1987). Theoccurrenceofthisbirdin medieval Balearicislands,theItalianpeninsula,Sicily,the Europe has been exhaustively documented in the Aeolian islands, Croatia and the Dalmatian coast worksofseveralauthors,suchasDiener(1967), (Peres-Chiscano 1969;Spanò&Truffi1986; Ribemont (1990), Mc Munn (1999). Among the Iapichino & Massa 1989; Lo Valvo et al . 1993). In manyexamplesofancientartisticrepresentation the Eastern Mediterranean region, the species has ofthespecieswecanmention themosaicsfrom beenreported from Egypt,Israel,Jordan,Syria, Santa Maria
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